


Perfectly Imperfect

by SaraJaye



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Acceptance, Confessions, Dessert & Sweets, F/F, First Kiss, Friendship/Love, Post-Series, Repairing Unhealthy Relationship, Sleepovers, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-25
Updated: 2014-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-14 15:03:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2196312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaraJaye/pseuds/SaraJaye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess or witch? Shiori Takatsuki is neither, and Juri realizes it doesn't matter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Perfectly Imperfect

**Author's Note:**

> _Any, any, Love isn't finding the perfect person, it's finding the imperfect person perfect._

Shiori Takatsuki wasn't a flawless angel, and once upon a time that had devastated her. Now it didn't matter.

She hated herself, it turned out. Thought she was worthless, a waste of space, unworthy of being loved by anyone. One night she sat down for tea with Juri and everything poured from her, the years of guilt and self-loathing and how could she have ever done such things, how could she still be the one in Juri's heart after all this time?

She was crying by the end of the night and despite her urge to sweep the girl into her arms and reassure her, she held back.

 _She's not the girl I thought she was. Either of them._ Not the sweet innocent princess, not the cruel witch, but merely human. An ordinary human being, and Juri didn't know what to think. How to feel.

She let Shiori sleep in her bed that night and took the couch for herself. While Shiori rested, she laid awake and stared up at the ceiling, trying to process everything she'd just heard. Trying to process that the girl she loved was just as flawed as anyone.

The next few days were awkward and silent, Shiori avoiding Juri out of embarrassment and Juri avoiding Shiori out of lingering shock. _Was I wrong? All this time, was I wrong to see her as one extreme or the other?_ Of course she was, but knowing and accepting were two different things.

That weekend, Shiori asked to sleep over. This time they slept in the sitting room, in sleeping bags on the floor like they had as children. Juri fixed them parfaits, chocolate for her and strawberry-pineapple for Shiori.

"It's good to know your tastes haven't changed," she said as Shiori dug into her parfait. Always a bit of a sweet tooth, Shiori liked combinations most people might not consider but somehow still worked.

"And you turned out to be a pretty good cook." Shiori smiled, a stray bit of cream dotting her cheek. It was oddly adorable, Juri thought. "You've come a long way from burning crepes."

"Miki taught me." Miki Kaoru, the closest thing to a friend she'd had since those days and eventually the only one to know about everything. Everything except the past few days, at least.

"The piano player?" Shiori nodded. "I've spoken to him before. He really likes you...maybe as more than a friend?"

"We're life partners," Juri said. "No more, no less." Shiori frowned, setting her half-empty parfait glass down beside her sleeping bag.

"Even now, Juri?"

"Shiori, look..." She swallowed, the taste of chocolate suddenly bitter, and set her own glass down. "I'm sorry for avoiding you. I...I just needed to think."

"You needed to think about how I fell apart? How much I hate myself? How to end our friendship without breaking my heart?" Shiori's tone was as bitter as the taste in her mouth and Juri willed herself not to flinch.

"About how wrong I was, all these years." She laid her hand over the other girl's, their eyes slowly meeting. "I should have never treated you like that. I should have just talked to you, even when I was angry at you. I blamed you for breaking my heart, but it was just as cruel of me not to tell you what was _in_ my heart."

It was the hardest apology she'd ever had to give, not because she hated being wrong but because she knew how much her years of silence had hurt Shiori. She didn't know what to expect.

Least of all Shiori's lips suddenly pressing against hers, their chosen flavors mingling together. Soft, quick, sweet before Shiori pulled back, both of them blushing, neither sure what to say.

"I want to start over," Shiori said. "Can we?"

Juri smiled, noting a strawberry smudge on Shiori's pert nose. She was human, she was flawed, she was a messy eater now and then. But in Juri's eyes, she was perfect in a way only Shiori Takatsuki could be.

"Let's not start over. Let's just keep going from here."

Shiori's hand clasped hers, their fingers interlocking in a silent _yes._ She heard a soft voice telling her everything would be okay, and for the first time in a long time she believed it.


End file.
